


Letters

by rilina



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-01-13
Updated: 2008-01-13
Packaged: 2017-10-05 08:57:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/39948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rilina/pseuds/rilina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Iruka isn't surprised when Naruto turns out to be a horrible correspondent</p>
            </blockquote>





	Letters

Iruka isn’t surprised when Naruto turns out to be a horrible correspondent; when all’s said and done, it’s really a wonder that Naruto is literate enough to be any sort of correspondent at all. Most shinobi only learn enough of their letters to read mission briefs and training scrolls, and Naruto ignored those lessons at the academy along with all the others. Sometimes Iruka can only marvel that Naruto is even able to read the menus at Ichiraku Ramen.

Nevertheless, after Naruto’s left Konoha with Jiraiya-sama, the letters begin to come, one by one. The first reaches Iruka’s doorstep via a weary jounin, who explains that her team ran into the Sannin and his brat during a mission to the south. Iruka nearly drops the scroll when he finally realizes what he’s holding; long after she’s gone, he holds it at arm’s length, wondering if it’s going to explode when he attempts to read it.

To his surprise, there’s no crash, bang, or boom when he finally breaks its seal, just an ill-spelled and somewhat incoherent account of the new towns Naruto’s seen and Jiraiya-sama’s latest perfidies. There’s no mention of Team 7 or of anyone else from Konoha.

The second one shows up three months later, the third about two weeks after that. (That one explodes in Iruka’s face, leaving his eyebrows singed and his ceiling charred. Iruka fumes for days.) The letters usually arrive via jounin and chuunin recently returned from one mission or another; once, though, a sleek figure in an ANBU mask swoops through the middle of one of Iruka’s classes to deliver one of Naruto’s scrolls. It takes Iruka a good ten minutes to restore order among his charges after that interruption.

Sometimes Iruka makes a mental list of all the things he would write back, if there was ever an address where he could find the pair. _What are you learning? What are you doing? Is Jiraiya-sama paying enough attention to you? Are you safe? Do you think I’ll forget about the stink bomb in that last scroll? (Because I won’t.) _

One question never makes his list: _When are you coming home? _Old habits die hard, and Iruka's reasons for not asking it are good ones. After all, mission details of that nature are generally classified. And veteran shinobi know that there’s no way to answer that question truthfully until the mission's done. Things that can go wrong often will; even in times of peace, there are plenty of ninja who leave for missions and are never seen again. Iruka would rather wait, knowing nothing, than hold on to a guess or a lie.

Still, Iruka's sure that Naruto will be back some day. He just can’t imagine that Naruto’s dream of being Hokage will end far from Konoha; stories don’t end like that. And if the sad state of Iruka's ceiling is any sort of indicator--when Naruto comes home, for better or for worse, Iruka will be one of the first to know.


End file.
